What is Bitcointalk.org?

Whether you are a seasoned user or even a beginner Bitcoin user, chances are you have visited or have heard of Bitcointalk.org. If you haven’t, this article aims to provide readers with the basics as well prime them with useful knowledge prior to visiting. Part reason for this article to exist is, they don’t explain themselves very well.

First, Bitcointalk often shortened to Btctalk (or even shorter bct), is an online forum that allows global users to discuss everything and anything related to Bitcoin and Altcoins. The forum dates back to 2010, when even Satoshi himself visited it and wrote some posts, and has seen a significant increase in traffic and users ever since then. The forum acts as a way to keep track of the latest news related to cryptocurrencies and even hosts a marketplace to conduct trades, transactions, and promotions.

Due to the level of traffic Btctalk boasts, many users have taken to advertising their crypto-related websites on the forum via signature campaigns. At the bottom of every user’s posts, depending on the user rank (/level), there may or may not reside a signature. An example of a signature can be seen at the bottom of the example post below.

To join a signature campaign, you can go to the Services section and apply to one of the offerings. This often requires the user to have a certain rank on Btctalk. The image below show the various Btctalk user account ranks and their activity levels.

Account activity is increased via post count as well as the age of the account. The activity calculation takes the minimum of the 14 x time and your post count, where time is the number of two-week periods you have posted since registering. As your activity increases, you should see your account rank increase accordingly. The motive behind increasing your account rank is to receive better signature campaign payment rates as well as greater credibility when completing transitions.

Related to credibility, on Btctalk there is also a trust system that better captures how trustworthy a user is. This is similar to the feedback system on an online marketplace such as eBay. The gist is, when you complete a transaction with someone on the forum, you can leave and receive trust. The more trust you receive from other trusted users, the higher your trust rating. The same goes for negative trust and bad ratings.

Due to signature campaigns and the marketplace on Btctalk, there are many places on the forum that are riddled with poor post quality or potential scammers. Due to this, it is advisable for every new user to read the sticky posts for each of the boards they are visiting as well as take extreme caution when completing a transaction with a “newbie” or low-trust user.

Despite the negatives, Btctalk is an excellent forum to read about the latest developments and opinions in the crypto-scene. There are many legitimate and excellent opportunities to be found on the forum. There are also giveaways and promotions from people trying to have others test their work or gain traffic to their sites. All in all, I recommend Bitcoin and altcoin users to register with Btctalk and read the forums for topics of interest.